When we began our RV Travels back in the Autumn of 2006 we really didn’t have any plans or firmed up destinations.  Only thing clear was our preference to travel in the American Southwest.  Knowing very little about New Mexico, Arizona, & California I had it in my mind to see the Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico & with that thought in mind we set off in that direction.  The rest of course is history as they say & we began our winter wanderings.  Here it is nearly 10 years later & as I look back I see we have spent the majority of our Snow Bird travels in Arizona with California coming in a distant second. 

WE BEGIN OUR DESCENT DOWN THE YARNELL HILL WITH A FEW SKIFFS OF ICY SLUSH ON THE ROAD

Think it was in December of 08 another RV couple met us in Yuma & said friends of theirs were looking for someone to do some ranch sitting.  In January we met the Ranch owners in South-east Arizona near a tiny little dusty spot called McNeal.  From that time until January of 2012 we spent several months of each winter season ranch sitting.  A short couple months after rolling out of the McNeal area ranch heading further west we stumbled across & bought our house in Congress Arizona.  So looking back now I would have to call Arizona our second home having spent the majority of our nearly 10 years here.  Starting out back in 06 we had no idea whatsoever what lay ahead of us & that we would end up spending the majority of our time in Arizona.  In fact I’m surprised we have been traveling the South-west for as long as we have.  Who knew.
  

It goes without saying what has attracted us here to the deserts & mountains Arizona, New Mexico, & California but at the repeated concern of repetition here’s a few things.  First & foremost for us was & still is the overall beautiful scenery which I have gone on & on in my posts each & every year.  Next of course is the weather.  Neither Kelly or I like hot & humid weather so that rules out traveling south of the U.S. border.  Not liking bitter cold & snow is what drives us out of Canada each Fall.   Yes it can get overly hot here & overly cold here from mid October to the end of March but in between we are able to enjoy the near perfect weather which we both enjoy.  And just think, no pesky bugs or biting insects, no torrential rains, no tornados, no hurricanes, no prolonged cloudy gray skies, no Alligators & no active poisonous snakes out & about during the winter months.  And here’s a biggy, a whole lot less people & traffic congestions found in many other States. 

Parts of the old wild West are still alive in many areas of Arizona & for me that has always been a main attraction as well.  Cowboys on horses are real & I never tire of seeing them on horseback wherever it may be.  I have mixed feeling about some of the lax laws but one just has to adjust to a lot of the old tumble down houses & properties found in so many smaller towns & outback areas.  I guess you could say that it lends itself to the ways & times of an era almost gone but hardly forgotten.

I’ve often thought if Utah would have had a more favorable winter climate we could have easily ended up there as well.  It’s still my favorite scenic State.  If California wasn’t so expensive we may have spent more time there over the years & again if New Mexico had a warmer winter climate we might have ended up settling in that State for the summer months somewhere.  But Arizona it is & we do like it here despite a few cold spells now & again.  For me I much prefer doing things outside in cooler weather as opposed to hot & humid.  But that’s just me:))

Kelly tried her best with the new Lenova laptop computer but this morning she packed it up back in it’s box to be returned to Amazon.  The straw that broke the Camel’s back was the computers difficulty connecting to the Internet.  My Toshiba sitting right beside the Lenova had no problems connecting while the Lenova kept dropping the connection.  Researching the internet on her older Acer she came to learn that connection problem is inherent with the model she had.  Even with Kelly’s oceans of patience the writing was on the wall & she had had enough.  So disappointing after all the hours she spent first having to re-install a bad Windows 10 install plus setting up her computer account & transferring a bunch of data.  Wasn’t until she had done all that that she discovered the connection problem.  Not often if hardly ever I see Kelly discouraged……but I saw it this morning:((

Pheebs & I did get out for a desert walk today but it wasn’t until almost noon.  Usually we’re just getting home by that time but cooler morning temps we didn’t head off till almost noon.  Nice walk, a few pics & that was about it for today.

GROANER’S CORNER:(( There were two blondes who went deep into the frozen woods searching for a Christmas tree.
After hours of subzero temperatures a few close calls with hungry wolves, one blonde turned to the other and said,
"I'm chopping down the next tree I see. I don't care whether it's decorated or not!"
Q. What did Adam say on the day before Christmas?
A. It's Christmas, Eve.
Q: What is a webmaster's favourite hymn?
A: Oh, dot com all ye faithful!....